The Guide Book Net-Teach Ltd

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CONTENTS Welcome to Net-Teach Ltd

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Net-Teach Students

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The Net-Teach Service 5 How does conference teaching work?

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Additional Support 6

Assignments and Feedback The Net-Teach Contact

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Progress Reports

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Parents’ Evenings

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School Visits

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Preferred Room Layout

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Net-Teach Offers

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Contact Details 10

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Welcome to Net-Teach Ltd

Conference teaching is one of the fastest growing areas of educational provision in the

UK today. It is recommended by Harvard University and promoted by many other top

educational institutions. It is a different approach to learning and the delivery is highly

structured. All materials are provided and with the advancement of technology we are

able to offer meetings with industry-based professionals and take students on virtual

tours to expand horizons far beyond the four walls of the classroom. These experiences

can be in real time, during designated times or as pre-recorded AVIs placed into the

student’s room where they can be accessed at anytime as part of their structured

learning experience.

All of our teachers have subject relevant degrees and most have MA/MSc qualifications.

They are highly experienced in delivering a variety of courses, including A-Level, NVQ,

BTEC, GCSE and short-courses to fit the client’s needs. All our teachers are CRB

checked.

This Guide Book for Net-Teach provides all of the necessary information required to run

a successful conference course, if that is what is required. We also run face-to-face short

courses and training days. Should you wish to discuss any aspects of our business

please contact us on 0044 1264 730232.

Students

It is important that distance-learning students are aware of what to expect from

conference teaching. As long as students are willing to learn new skills and are prepared

to manage their time effectively, they will truly benefit from everything on offer.

GCSE score of 44.8 or greater

Grades A-C in English at GCSE level

Effective in time management

Prepared to ask for help when required

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Organisational skills

Tutors will monitor students’ progress very closely throughout the course and will

provide feedback on a monthly basis. Year 12 students will probably not have had

experience of this style of learning before and they may find it a little strange in the early

weeks of the course. For this reason we encourage all students to actively engage with

everything on offer via this digital platform, such as one-to-one tutorials (bookable at

any reasonable time) taking part in virtual tours, watching interviews from industry

based employees which are recorded specifically for Net-Teach students, online meet-

ups, competitions and much more. Participating and exploring in this way helps to

normalise this learning method relatively quickly and students are able to clearly see the

benefits of this digital teaching process.

Transferable skills

Students benefit enormously from the study-skills embedded within each Net-Teach

course. These skills are carefully developed by the tutors throughout the programme

and the study-skills activities are tailored to meet the needs of each individual student.

Study skills include:

Time management skills

Organizational skills

Self-discipline

Developing an ability to identify and apply appropriate learning styles

Written and verbal communication skills

Revision and examination techniques

Research skills

These attributes are highly valued by UCAS and can be instrumental when considering

placement in Higher Education. Including a section on distance-learning in their

Curriculum Vitae always attracts interest as it reflects self-discipline and embraces

innovative learning techniques. Another benefit for students who engage in our

methodology is improved performance in their other subjects, as it helps them to hone

their study time and time-manage effectively.

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The Net-Teach Service

Students are usually pre-registered in the summer term of the preceding academic year.

This helps us with the timetabling process but does not place an obligation on the school

to buy a course.

The first week of the autumn term is set aside for testing equipment and introductions.

Your tutor will send sufficient quantities of student folders and make sure all students

are equipped with working e-mails and have access to the Student Room. If additional

folders are required they will be sent by recorded delivery.

In September you will be asked to complete and return the Registration Form. This

forms part of the contractual agreement and will require you to provide the number of

students for each group and subject. You will also be asked to agree the terms and

conditions of the Net-Teach Ltd service, which includes full payment by the end of

October of the same year. A contract of service is signed by both parties in order to

engage fully in the teaching partnership. Payment includes all materials for up to five

students and all services therein to set up and teach those students.

How does distance-learning work?

Tutorial

Each tutorial lasts an hour and is a two-way conference call, so students can see and

speak to their tutor and visa-versa. The tutor is able to use a whiteboard and to show

PowerPoints and video clips, all controlled by the tutor, so the student has a similar

experience to seeing a teacher within the room. Other groups/guests can be invited so

that the learning experience is rich and expansive, at no extra cost. Teaching using this

method offers a diverse and structured educational experience, where potential research

and expert advice from around the world can be sourced because of the technology

available. In order to complete a weekly unit (and meet all of the learning outcomes) we

expect students to typically spend around 4 hours per week working through the set

assignments, either from the folder or from their virtual student room.

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The tutorials involve a range of different teaching strategies and techniques (video led

discussions, pair work, group work, direct questioning, essay planning, research

techniques and guest speakers) and each student will conduct a thorough review of each

relevant weekly unit. All aspects of the tutorial are logged and fed back to the Net-

Teach Contact through the Tutorial Feedback Form.

Additional Support

Net-Teach students are encouraged to keep in contact with their tutors throughout the

week. Your tutor will provide telephone and email support from 8.00am to 7.30pm

weekdays (bank holidays excluded) and can also provide a ten minute one-to-one video

call, on request, anytime during the week.

Assignments and Feedback

Each course will involve students submitting written assignments, mock exams and/or

externally assessed coursework. In addition, most courses will also have a designated

virtual student room, where work, research, information and links will be placed and the

student will use this to either complete a task or to view in order to enrich their studies.

You can expect assignments to be marked and returned within the week in most cases.

In order to ensure this turn around time, it is important that work is sent promptly from

your school. Please note that it is important that all students complete sections A and B

on the assignment cover sheets (name, school etc.). Failure to do so may lead to delays

in your tutor returning the work.

The grades for each batch of assignments, mocks and coursework drafts (where

applicable) will be fed back to the Contact via email.

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The Net-Teach Contact

All of our clients are asked to designate a member of staff (this need not be a member of

the teaching staff) who oversees the Net-Teach courses within the school. The Contact’s

main responsibility is to communicate between your organization and Net-Teach Ltd.

The Contact is not required to teach students or to be within the classroom whilst

lessons are taking place; there is no requirement for students to receive additional

tuition. Our courses are designed to be ‘stand-alone’. It is important that good

relationships are forged between the tutor and the designated Contact. We encourage

our clients to enter into an active partnership with us where information can flow freely

back and forth as required to meet the needs of the student.

The main responsibilities of the Net-Teach school Contact are to:

Keep a copy of this guide for reference

Correspond with the Net-Teach tutor by email and telephone (we find email works best)

Liaise with your technical team and Net-Teach on technical matters

Ensure that core text books are ordered (where these are provided by the school)

Update tutors with relevant student information (for example, SEN students)

Make arrangements for one visit per term

Make arrangements for parent evenings

Make arrangements for the collection, postage and distribution of assignments

Receive (and where relevant, discuss) the Tutorial Feedback forms issued each month

Ensure that student data is handled by the appropriate Examinations Officer

Ensure that students are entered into the correct exams

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Report Writing

We ask that you make your tutor aware of your school’s reporting requirements at the

start of the Autumn Term and that any report templates and examples are provided in

good time. As our tutors follow reporting schedules for up to ten different schools at the

same time, we would appreciate it if you could remind your tutor of the reporting

deadlines ten working days before they are due.

Parents’ Evenings

Your tutor is contracted to provide one Parents’ Evening per tutorial group, per academic year.

Please try to notify your tutor when you would like them to hold an evening (by video conference

unless they live within 30 miles of your school) at least two weeks in advance.

School Visits

School visits are carried out every term during each academic year within the UK. The first visit

is usually conducted in the first three weeks of the autumn term and is used as an‘ice breaker’.

The second visit usually falls just after Easter (your tutor will discuss this with you) and is used

to consolidate coursework and to start the revision period. Please note that there are no video-

conference tutorials during the two weeks of planned visits. However, students do not lose out

on tutorial time as the visit sessions are twice the length of normal tutorials. Schools abroad are

offered the same service, but at a slightly increased cost due to the distance involved.

Video conferencing preferred layout

The traditional conference layout (horse shoe shape as illustrated below) works best for most

tutorials. Having rows of desks tends to encourage those at the back to hide away. It is also

more difficult to hear students when they are sitting in rows.

View as seen by the Net-Teach tutor

Microphone

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Tips for setting up video conferencing in your school

Try to use a room which is reasonably free from distractions

Rooms with large uncovered walls (and glass in particular) can cause audio problems

Try to ensure that the light source is in front of students and not behind them

Try to ensure that the web camera is pointing down on the group (so students can be

seen)

Try to ensure that procedures are put in place to ensure that the room is accessible

(unlocked) before a tutorial is due to start.

Try to ensure that students know how to get hold of a technician quickly if a connection

fails.

Artificial lighting is more suitable than natural lighting when video-conferencing

Net-Teach offers:

Highly qualified tutors - most are MA/MSc standard and many are External Examiners

Industry guest speakers

Virtual and actual tours

Full marking

Detailed and illustrated information packs for each student

Student room with individual login details

One-to-one teacher tutorials (on request)

Careers advice and student profiling.

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Net-Teach Ltd

Net-Teach is a company providing high-quality education over the net for schools,

colleges, business’ and individuals. The company has grown dramatically in the last

year and as such we are now able to offer provision for primary schooling. Please see the

web-site for more information or contact us directly.

We ask that you register your interest as soon as possible as this helps enormously with

our planning for September. We understand that students change their minds and that

there is no guarantee of numbers for the next academic year, but we trust your

judgement and it helps us to know which subjects are required and how many schools

we have for the coming year. This allows us to provisionally book our trips, guest

speakers and venues.

If you would like to register your interest or request a call-back, please e-mail

(admin@net-teach.co.uk) or telephone on: 0044 1264 730232

Conference teaching over the Internet is structured, dynamic and modern. Our results are

above average and our students take pride in their learning. Classes are small, all information

packs are provided, designated virtual rooms with pre-recorded work are updated regularly,

industry guest speakers provide real insight into the working world and our careers advisors

are well versed in the requirements of the top universities.